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pestilence
Feb 4, 2012, 5:11 AM
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Registered: Jan 12, 2002
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I've always been a big Petzl fan so when my daughter expressed an interest in climbing I ordered her a full body Petzl Ouistiti.
Her size and weight are well within the range the harness is intended for. My question is when shes wearing the harness there is a lot of slack in the harness on her back as the area where the webbing intersects is fixed (sewn) and not adjustable. Unlike every other Petzl product I've ever purchased there aren't any clear instructions/pictograms to explain whether or not this is safe and correctly adjusted. I've tried the Petzl website but couldn't find anything. Anyone have any experience with this model of harness who can tell me if this is normal?
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trisgo
Feb 4, 2012, 2:12 PM
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Registered: Aug 4, 2005
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My spelling is horrible FYI. I used to work at a climbing gym a while back and the problem we used to run into was slack in the shoulder straps. We would crank down the straps and once we tied them in, we would have them kneel down to put wieght on it, and while they did that, cracked down the straps again. In the end, we ended up getting rid of them for that reason and switch to another harness for kids (can't remember the name. Think it was Simba or Zimba?). Having a kid off the ground with lose straps on the harness after cranking them all the way down is extremly unerving and frustrating; I won't do it. I'm surprise they still sell them. Look around for other options and reviews.
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lena_chita
Moderator
Feb 4, 2012, 3:47 PM
Post #3 of 6
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Registered: Jun 27, 2006
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pestilence wrote: I've always been a big Petzl fan so when my daughter expressed an interest in climbing I ordered her a full body Petzl Ouistiti. Her size and weight are well within the range the harness is intended for. My question is when shes wearing the harness there is a lot of slack in the harness on her back as the area where the webbing intersects is fixed (sewn) and not adjustable. Unlike every other Petzl product I've ever purchased there aren't any clear instructions/pictograms to explain whether or not this is safe and correctly adjusted. I've tried the Petzl website but couldn't find anything. Anyone have any experience with this model of harness who can tell me if this is normal?
Yep, that seems to be the way it fits on a lot of kids. If you pick her up and dangle her by the tie in points, you will see that that slack in the back is not going to affect her in the situation of falling or hanging on the rope. As long as the shoulder straps are adjusted to correct height, she is not going to fall out of the harness, even if she inverts.
I agree with you, it is one of the few less-than-stellar products from Petzl. My daughter has been lobbying for a "normal" harness for years, but she is still too small to fit properly into the kid harnesses that are the miniature versions of adult harness. Almost there... why would she want it, is she isn't really climbing on the rope ever-- that's a separate question.
You can sort-of see the slack here(sorry, it is blurry):
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pestilence
Feb 4, 2012, 6:53 PM
Post #4 of 6
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Registered: Jan 12, 2002
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Thats exactly the issue I'm having. The leg loops and shoulder straps look great and there doesn't appear to be any way for her to fall out, but there's just alot of slack in the loops that connect the leg loops to the shoulder harness on her back. I recently saw another similar childs full body harness (rock empire I think?) and it was fully adjustable so all of this slack was taken up.
Thanks for your response and help
Cheers Cameron
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james_va
Feb 4, 2012, 9:28 PM
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Registered: Oct 21, 2008
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Yep, I got one for my friend's daughter and it fits the same way. It seems included as a gesture to accommodate "fuller" kids without impinging upon safety if it's not needed.
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mjwestla
Feb 4, 2012, 10:03 PM
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Registered: May 28, 2008
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My son is still too small to really take advantage but the CAMP bambino harness is pretty good, with 5 adjustment points. The only weakness is that it has autolocking buckles at the shoulders. If your kid is too small the shoulder buckles are placed too high and can slide into an unlock position because they lie over a bend, which undoes them. We haven't noticed the leg or waist having this problem. Some friends of mine with slightly older+bigger kids have added some plastic slide on buckles to lock them down but I've yet to do that since mine is content to swing on the rope a few feet off the ground.
Matt
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